Bishop Maxim visited his flock in Portland

17. August 2017 - 9:47

The past weekend of 12th and 13th August 2017 at the St. Stephens Archdeacon and Protomartyr Serbian Orthodox Church in Portland, Oregon was very blessed because our Diocesan Bishop His Grace Bishop Maxim visited our Portland parish.

The reason of His visit was the celebration of our Parish Slava, which began with a joyful gathering on saturday afternoon when a lot of parish children full of joy and happiness welcomed His Grace at our beautiful Church property in Portland. Bishop Maxim blessed all the children and people who came to this gathering. After a delicious barbecue and childrens playing and talks we concluded the beautiful afternoon with a Vesper served by Fr. Vidoslav Vujasin the host priest in the presence of his Grace and the faithful followed by a brief meeting with the Board members who presented the Diocesan Bishop their plans for improvement and development of future projects on our Church property in Portland.

On Sunday His Grace Bishop Maxim served the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy together with the concelebrants, Fr. Rev. Seraphim Bell, from the St. John Maximovitch parish in Eugene, Fr. Rev. Vidoslav Vujasin, Episcopal Dean, Portland, Protodeacon Rev. Stephen Dyer, Eugene and many parishioners and guests.

The sermon based on the Gospel reading was given by Fr. Seraphim Bell. After the Holy Liturgy the Slava bread cutting ceremony took place with the Kums Vladimir and Sanja Draskovic with their daughters Elena, Ana and the new baby born son Luka. Our parishioners Paja and Nadica Agatonovic overtook the Slava for the next year.

A delicious luncheon followed, which was prepared by the Kums and the Circle of Serbian sisters under the presidency of Slavica Mucibabic. After services held in their parishes Fr. Rev. Matthew Tate, Rector of the OCA Annunciation parish in Milwaukie, OR and Fr. Rev. Timothy Pavlatos, St. Johns Greek Orthodox Church, Beaverton, OR arrived and joined us for the festive meal.

During the lunch there was a short performance with the lovely children from the Portland parish who sang a song for the Bishop and all guests. As a special blessing after more than 50 days without measurable rain Bishop Maxim let fall His famous Candy rain over the children who had much fun getting some of this sweet rain. After the lunch followed a book presentation by His Grace Bp. Maxim who presented the new issued capital Monography about the Heritage of our Church in Kosovo and Metohija and the newest book from Bishop Grigorije "Preko Praga", and the Biography of St. Mardarije which are all published by the Diocesan Publishing House Sebastian Press (www.sebastianpress.org).

We are grateful for these many blessings and looking forward to the next visit of His Grace Bishop Maxim, who is always very welcome in our Portland parish.